


loving you is my everything

by a_very_smol_frog



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Oikawa Confesses his love on live television, Olympics, Post-Time Skip, they're both saps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29426364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_very_smol_frog/pseuds/a_very_smol_frog
Summary: Why did you fall in love with your partner?It’s a simple question, but at the same time, impossible to answer in a few short sentences.Loving Hajime comes as easy as breathing, and is just as vital. Loving Hajime is everything.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61
Collections: Iwaoi Server Valentine Exchange 2021





	loving you is my everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [innogueira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/innogueira/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's Day [Nes!](https://twitter.com/seijohnes?s=09)
> 
> This was so much fun to write! I hope you enjoy it <3

Unlike most athletes, Tooru loves the press. He enjoys the attention, getting all dressed up, and seeing his face on the television screen later. After decades of working towards his dreams—he’s a starting setter in the fucking _**Olympics**_!—he thinks he deserves to show off a little bit. There are days where he is worn too thin and they ask too many questions, testing his patience, but for the most part, it's fun.

Currently, it's two days before his first match as an Olympian—god, that will never get old—and a sports journalist asked if she could sit with him for a private interview. Hajime told him he should decline, that his free time should be spent resting for his upcoming match, but Tooru likes doing these, so he quickly agreed.

Now, he’s seated in a small back room in one of the buildings in the Olympic Village. It was definitely not made to be an interview room, the camera equipment and three people barely fit into the tight space, but the journalist is young, and she’s ecstatic for the opportunity to sit down with him.

“Here’s a short list of the questions I’m going to ask. This is more of a “behind the athlete” type of interview, so I won’t be focusing as much on volleyball. Instead, I want to get a sneak peak at the life of regular Oikawa Tooru. Who are you off the court?”

Tooru’s eyes scan the note cards handed to him. They’re all pretty standard questions, most of which he’s already answered.

Why did you get into volleyball? How was it moving from your home to a different continent right out of high school? How did you deal with the culture shock? Do you have any dreams outside of being an athlete?

His lips quirk up when he reads the last question.

Who is your infamous partner?

It’s a question he’s been asked, no less than, a hundred times.

Tooru asked Hajime to marry him two years after he left home. A long distance relationship was hard—it tested them constantly—but through all the trials and tribulations, they made it work. There was never a doubt in Tooru’s mind that they would. Even when they were living in different parts of the world, Tooru never felt his love for Hajime waiver, and he has always been shown that same devotion back.

Marrying Hajime was a no brainer. It wasn’t a matter of _if_ , but of _when_.

They had decided to keep their marriage private. As a professional athlete, Tooru was worried about how it would affect his sponsors and potential to be scouted for different teams. It infuriates him that he has to keep his love hidden because of the ignorance of other people, but as long as Hajime knows Tooru loves him, nothing else matters.

Even still, Tooru doesn’t go a day without wearing his ring. The sports community knows he’s married, but unlike most things, he has remained tight lipped about his partner.

It’s almost like a game of cat and mouse. He’ll divulge a little information, and the press eats it up out of the palm of his hands, but he never gives them enough to satisfy their hunger. Hajime chastises him, telling him that it’s not fair to tease, but Tooru has already said he won’t be revealing his partner’s identity or any information that could lead to that discovery, so really, it’s their fault for asking.

“Okay, Oikawa-san. We’re all ready!” Tooru sets the notecards down under his chair and straightens his back.

It’s showtime.

The conversation between them flows easily. Before they started filming, she told him that this is supposed to be a relaxed interview. There are no retakes when he stumbles over his words or lets a swear word accidentally slip. It’s not difficult for Tooru to unwind, and the answers to her questions come naturally.

When he’s telling her about how he got lost in Brazil and ended up having to hitch a ride on a donkey to get back to a village where he could phone his host family, she laughs so hard she cries.

Tooru’s cheeks hurt from smiling. Time slips by quickly, and before he realizes it, they’re at the end of the interview.

“I only have one question left for you. I know you’re very private about your relationship, and I won’t ask you to name your partner.” Tooru nods his head in thanks. He hopes this woman has a successful career ahead of her; he enjoys talking to her.

“But do you mind telling us what about them _made_ you fall in love? How did this person steal the heart of one of the most famous setters in the world?”

Tooru chuckles softly. It’s a simple question, but at the same time, impossible to answer in a few short sentences.

“Well, I don’t really know where to begin. They’ve been a part of my life for awhile, and honestly, I can’t imagine what it would be without them.” Tooru’s gaze falls down at the silver ring fitted on his left hand. During games, he’ll wear it around his neck, but when he’s not playing, he enjoys the feeling of the metal against his finger. On the inside the kanji for I love you is engraved in Hajime’s handwriting. Somewhere in the village is a matching ring with Tooru’s messy scrawl etched into gold.

On days when the homesickness feels like too much, and all he craves is the feeling of the love of his life laying next to him, those characters are the only thing that helps ease the ache in his heart.

“Being a professional athlete isn’t easy. I love volleyball, but that hasn’t always been true. There were times where my hunger to be the best clouded my vision, and I wasn’t doing the sport because I _loved_ it anymore. I could only focus on beating those I thought were better than me. Whenever we lost, I blamed it all on myself.” Even now, a decade after their loss to Karasuno, Tooru still feels the weight of his emotions that day and the weeks following.

The feeling of drowning in despair and self loathing. It was just one high school volleyball match, but at the time, it felt like there was nothing left. Tooru would have sunk all the way to rock bottom if it hadn’t been for Hajime.

“They helped me through those times. They gave me a reason to wake up in the mornings, and were my sunshine during those dark days.” Now that the floodgates are open, Tooru feels the words tumbling off his lips, and he isn’t sure he’ll be able to stop them.

The love he feels for Hajime is all consuming. Every other experience and emotion is fleeting. The high of winning a match will always fade. The grief of a loss will eventually dim. Fear, excitement, anger, guilt; everything changes with time, but not his love.

 _That_ has withstood the relentless turning of time, and the harrowing terror of distance. Through thick and thin, the strings that hold them together have never snapped.

Loving Hajime is the first clear memory Tooru has. When he was a child, a spikey haired gap-toothed boy offered him half of his popsicle on a humid summer day. The start of forever began with that moment.

“Loving them is my everything. It’s the first thing I feel when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think of before I go to bed. There isn’t a single second of my day when I’m not thinking about them. Life without them would be like living without air in my lungs; I’d die.”

“I am the man I am today because of them. Sure, I worked extremely hard to get where I am, and I am proud of everything I’ve accomplished, but I can only stand here today because _they_ built me up." Tears prickle in the corner of Tooru’s eyes, and he laughs as he hastily wipes them away.

“They’re my sun, my moon, my stars, the ground under my feet, and the wind beneath my wings.” Tooru looks up from his hands and gazes into the camera lens situated just over the journalist’s right shoulder.

“I love you more than anything. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and for everything I know you’ll do for me in the future. When I win gold in two weeks, it’ll all be because of you.” Even if they don’t know Hajime’s name, the viewers will know exactly who Tooru is talking to.

The journalist sniffles and uses a tissue to blot the corner of her eyes.

“Wow Oikawa-san. Whoever they are, I'm envious of them. A love like what you two share is a rare and precious thing.”

Even though Tooru can’t see them, he feels the etchings on the inside of his ring as he twirls it around his finger.

“Yeah, it is.”

~~~

Later that night, Tooru walks into his room after a light practice and session with his physical therapist, to find Hajime already laying in bed. An IPad is settled in his lap and his headphones are on, so he doesn’t immediately notice Tooru’s presence.

It isn’t until the bed dips down beside him that his eyes look up from the screen. Tooru sees shimmering emerald greens swimming in tears.

“Iwa-chan, what’s wrong?” Instead of a response, Hajime brings his right fist down hard on Tooru’s pec. Tooru wails in pain and collapses on the bed, clutching his chest.

“What the fuck Haj-” Before he can finish his sentence, two burly arms wrap themselves around his torso, and drag him into Hajime’s chest.

“You’re such a dumbass.” Tooru cranes his neck and manages to catch a glimpse of Hajime’s IPad screen. He sees a stilled image of himself from a few hours prior, sitting in a cramped back room. The dots connect in his head, and he can’t help but laugh.

“Iwa-chan is so emotionally constipated that he hits me when I declare my love!” The arms around him begin to squeeze and don’t let up until Tooru taps in surrender.

He pulls away and sits up in bed, rubbing his, now, sore ribs.

Hajime is fiddling with his ring. His expression is pensive, clearly lost in thought.

Tooru waits.

He’s always known Hajime loves him, but instead of using words, Hajime uses action to show his devotion.

Sharing his milk bread at lunch. Walking the mile to school at eleven at night because he knows Tooru is pushing himself too hard in the gym. Going to almost every physical therapy session with him after his knee surgery. Wiping the tears off his face when Tooru felt like giving everything up. Always being an unwavering support at his side, no matter how many times Tooru pushed him away.

Hajime didn't say I love you until four months after Tooru had, but really, he had been telling Tooru that he did _long_ before either of them ever uttered those three words. 

Vocalizing his emotions has always been harder for Hajime. Eventually the words will come; Tooru just has to be patient.

“You’re such a sap.” His voice is wet and thick with emotion. Tooru reaches out and laces their fingers together. Hajime’s tightly squeeze his.

“I’m so fucking proud of you. Of everything you’ve done, everything you’ve become, and everything you’re still going to do. Getting to be by your side during all of it.” Hajime uses his free hand to wipe at his eyes. “I’m the luckiest man alive.”

Hajime has always been the strongest person Tooru has ever known. Armed with only sheer determination and willpower, he could move mountains, drain oceans, and rip down the heavens. He always says that Tooru is the stronger one in the relationship, but without Hajime by his side, Tooru would have crumbled long ago.

“I love you Oikawa Tooru. Every breath and beat of my heart is for you. It doesn’t matter what end of the earth you’re on, you’ll always be _home_ to me.”

Now, it’s Tooru’s turn to cry.

He tugs at Hajime’s hand, pulling him closer. They fall into each other easily; it’s as natural as breathing. The only sound in the room is the shared beating of their hearts: two halves of the same whole.

If Tooru could do his life over again, the only thing he would change would be to confess his love sooner, so he could have more moments like this one.

Even if he wins a hundred gold medals or first place trophies, none of them will ever compare to the prize of being loved by Hajime; it’s the greatest achievement of his life, the highest honor he could ever receive—being loved by Iwaizumi Hajime is everything Tooru could have ever wanted and more.


End file.
